The Spider’s Web

New York City, New York

The Brooklyn Bridge is easily recognizable by its double-arched brick towers and its massive webbing of steel cables and mesh. If you’re in New York City and can find the time, take the subway over to Brooklyn Heights and walk the bridge back to Manhattan. The views of the skyline of the city are well worth the effect.

You woke up that morning feeling warm, tucked up in your covers as sunlight shone through the blinds into your room. You groaned and shut your eyes tight, trying to make the slight throbbing in your head calm down.

“What happened last night?” you thought to yourself. “All I remember was going out with Alex and Chandra and then it all goes blac-”

Your thought process gets cut off by the electronic beeping of your alarm clock as it hit 7:30 in the morning. You didn’t even have anywhere to be today and yet the stupid thing rang as it always did, making your headache even worse. You groaned and stuck your hand over, fumbling around the top of your nightstand before hitting the snooze button.

“Killjoy.” your mumbled to yourself before feeling the bed space right next to you shift a bit and a soft groan from what sounded like a guy. That’s when you went pale and realized that you were completely naked in your own bed.

Apparently, you didn’t go home alone last night. You turned your head and saw the figure move. He was probably handsome, even if you couldn’t see his face. Dark hair, broad shoulders, he looked strong. He turned around to face you and-

Oh crap.

Next to you in your bed was Brady. Your ex-boyfriend Brady Skjei. You whipped your head back and remained as silent as you could. How on Earth could you let that happen?

It’s not that it ended badly. It didn’t. It ended years ago, though. You two broke it off because you didn’t think you would make it work when you went your separate ways for college and because Brady was so focused on his hockey. You felt left out of his life even if you were supposed to be a big part of it. It broke your heart into pieces when it happened and you weren’t going to lie, it still hurt a bit when you thought about it every now and then.

Last night was your first night back in Minnesota since the previous summer. You were living on your own in an apartment in St. Paul now. It was good and not too expensive and not too far from your internship at the hospital while you studied to be a doctor.

“Hello?” you heard him whisper softly. “You awake?”

You bit your lip and thought to yourself, “dammit. I might as well get this over with as quick as possible.”

You took a breath and turned over in your bed to face him. He looked even more handsome since you last saw him. His acne was gone, his eyes still shined like stars, and his lips looked soft. He was still so dashingly handsome even with the new scar and the bed head. Ruggedly, boyishly handsome.

Brady’s face was white, eyes wide as he stared at you. He was probably remembering the night before.

“(Y/N)?”

“Yeah. Hi Brady.” you said. “So…”

“Oh gosh.” he said. “Uh… did we-”

You nodded. “Yeah. We did.”

“Oh.” he said, cheeks red and flushed. “Did we use-”

“Yeah. We did. I remember that bit.”

“Good. Good to know we were safe.” he mumbled, trying to not make the entire situation more awkward than it already seemed. “Did… uh… Did you get to… Did you enjoy it?”

You thought about it and remembered that bit of last night’s actions. “Yeah. I did.”

He nodded. “Good to know… Listen, about last night, I-”

“No, no, Brady, listen, it’s fine.” you sighed. “I’m sorry. I think I’m gonna go make coffee. If you want to, you can get up, get dressed, go, and act like this never happened. I won’t tell anyone. I promise. It’s cool-”

“No, (Y/N), wait.” he spoke up. “I… I want to talk.”

You sat up. “What about?”

“Last night.” he said, doing the same. “And when we broke up and everything after and before that. I just… I’m so incredibly sorry about what happened. Not even this. I mean what happened between us.”

“Brady, you don’t have to apologize. It was years ago.”

“No, I do. I do have to because I was a dick and was too focused to see what actually mattered.” he sighed. “The truth is that I miss you. A lot. You were one of the only reasons I stayed totally sane back then with the stress from both sports and school and I lost you a couple days before we graduated and it was the stupidest thing I ever agreed to do. And I’m sorry. I’m really really fucking sorry. I miss you and the way you make me feel and how sweet you are and how sweet you are and how just… awesome you are. You put up with my dumb ass through those years and I’m sorry.”

You looked at the comforter and bit your lip. “If I can be honest, I miss you too. Yeah, breaking up with you broke my heart, but I agreed to break up too. I thought it wouldn’t work if we would be so far apart and since you were so focused on your future career. I went to Massachusetts and you stayed here. And I hated my words as soon as I said them. So I’m sorry too.”

Brady slowly slid his hand over to yours and gently took it, holding it loosely. “Think we could make it work if we tried again?”

“Do you?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I do. Do you?”

You gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Yeah. I do.”

“Do you want to?”

You smiled. “Yeah. I do. I want to try again.”

You looked up to see him looking back at you, lips upturned in a soft smile. “I do. I think we can make it work this time.”

“Me too.” you said. “I think it will work this time. You and me… You want coffee still?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Thank you, baby.”

You got up and quickly put on panties and a t-shirt to cover up before heading back downstairs, heart beating happily in your chest. This time, it felt right.

By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into
extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any
living creature, and for people who can’t afford one, companies built
incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. They’ve even
built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they
are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc
these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth.
Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings,
undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is
commissioned to find rogue androids and “retire” them. But when
cornered, androids fight back—with lethal force.